Honda’s Future Plans

Honda plans to open 500 new dealerships, 70 per cent of which will be in rural areas

Honda is going bullish on its expansion plans. Honda currently holds the number two position in terms of domestic sales, behind Hero MotoCorp, and plans to become number one by 2020. To achieve this, the company is expanding both, manufacturing and sales. Last year, the company added a fourth assembly line at their Narsapura manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. This move adds 6 lakh units to Honda’s current capacity of 64 lakh bikes and scooters per year. For sales, Honda has set a target of adding 500 retail outlets this year, to its existing 5,200 dealerships. Of these, Honda has already added 250 outlets from April to August and will be adding 50 more this month. Honda is specifically concentrating on rural areas with 70 per cent of the new outlets coming up this year to be situated there.

Honda has been recording strong sales with currently a 30 per cent overall domestic market share for two-wheelers. It is currently the market leader in scooter sales with a 69 per cent market share. While their scooter sales have been strong, Honda wishes to focus more on motorcycle sales now. For this, it is capable of manufacturing bikes at its Gujarat facility which currently manufactures scooters only. Honda planned to launch four bikes this year, of which they have already launched the CRF 1000L Africa Twin and the Cliq. The other upcoming products are expected to be a faired version of the Honda Hornet 160R and a scooter.